It could have been a very smart, exciting and world-first energy policy initiative. But now we can see the results, it’s clear that Solar Sharer has gone terribly, terribly wrong.
As is too often the case in energy policy, the customer ends up the loser. And this has all occurred with the approval of the Australian Energy Regulator, the government’s market regulator.
Thanks to the amount of home rooftop solar installed in Australia, there is frequently a glut of electricity on the national electricity market in the middle of the day, so electricity prices on the wholesale market are cheap, sometimes zero or even negative.
When federal energy minister Chris Bowen announced last November that all electricity companies in NSW, South Australia and South-East Queensland would – from July 1 – be forced by law to offer three free hours of electricity between 11am and 2pm through his Solar Sharer scheme, it seemed a top idea.
It would encourage people to use power between these hours, soaking up that solar power and so cutting demand later in the day when prices are higher. This would also enable households without solar, especially tenants and apartment dwellers, to share in the benefits of the energy transition to renewables.
The electricity market is dominated by the big three retailers: AGL, Energy Australia and Origin. They all own big power stations, too, so they are also generators. Because of this they are often referred to as “gentailers”.
I reviewed multiple pricing schedules on the government’s Energy Made Easy website and it’s now clear that Solar Sharer pricing has the highest cost for a household of all pricing schedules on offer.
The electricity retailers have increased the price of electricity outside the free three hours of Solar Sharer, plus they’ve increased the daily supply charge above the supply charge in their other pricing offers.
AGL does not list its Solar Sharer pricing on its website. You need to call a 131 number, which I did. Two minutes into my call a recorded message asked me for my account number. I don’t have one. Then another recording said with fake jollity that all their agents are “pretty busy” at the moment.
Four minutes into the call, I spoke to a human and gave him my address. He put me on hold to check the Solar Sharer rates. He returned – without them. Without explanation at the seven minute mark, I was transferred to the “Resolutions Department”.
Then another recorded message asked me how satisfied I was by the service on a scale of one to five. “One,” I said. I was then asked how likely I was to recommend AGL to a friend or family member on a scale of zero to 10. You can guess my answer.
At nine minutes, AGL hung up on me.
All electricity retailers on the Ausgrid network (the eastern half of Sydney, the Central Coast and Hunter) that I reviewed have almost the same Solar Sharer pricing: outside the three free hours, usage is charged at 63.69 cents/kWh during peak periods, and 27.56 for shoulder and off-peak power, seven days a week. The supply charge is 176.41 cents/day. This is the pricing schedule approved by the Australian Energy Regulator.
AGL has a Solar Sharer pricing schedule on Energy Made Easy. For a household on the Ausgrid network using the site’s typical “high consumption” figure of 21.6 kilowatt-hours a day, the annual cost with Solar Sharer is $3270.
But if you went with AGL’s Residential Smart Saver plan you’d only pay 149.6 cents a day supply charge, and 29.8 cents/kWh all day. Total annual price: $2900. The supply charge is cheaper and the usage rate is cheaper except for the three free hours with Solar Sharer.
In Brisbane, on the Energex network, AGL’s Solar Sharer price is a little cheaper, with the total cost for the high consumption household of $3170. AGL’s Solar Sharer price in Brisbane is the dearest of its 37 plans.
Energy Australia failed to have a Solar Sharer offer by the legally required date of July 1. The Australian Energy Regulator negotiated with Energy Australia throughout July, did not penalise them, but instead gave them till August 3 to list their Solar Sharer pricing, which is now on their website and Energy Made Easy.
Again, high users on the Ausgrid network would pay $3270 with Solar Sharer… but only $2800 a year with Energy Australia’s Flexi Plan. Solar Sharer is the dearest of Energy Australia’s 19 plans.
One interesting point is that with the Flexi Plan your peak price only applies on weekdays; with Solar Sharer, the peak price is seven days a week.
Origin’s cheapest rate for the high user is the Affinity Variable ePlus Ongoing, with usage rates of 29.49 cents/kWh and supply charge of 147.93 cents/day. Total price $2870 a year for the high consumption rate.
If you chose the government-owned power company, Red Energy, you’d pay only 94.6 cents a day supply charge on its Living Energy Saver plan and 32.51 cents/kWh for usage all the time, for an annual cost of $2910, $360 less than Solar Sharer.
Ty Christopher, Energy Futures Director at the University of Wollongong and a 40-year veteran of the NSW electricity industry says the Solar Sharer program was, in theory, a great piece of public policy.
“Unfortunately, when left to the greedy, price-gouging gentailers and retailers to implement, it has now become a more expensive option for consumers – it’s not a bill saver – and all overseen by the Australian Energy Regulator who are doing nothing to protect consumers,” he says.
If you have a large battery and can fill it in three hours, you might be better off with Solar Sharer, even though your daily supply charge will be almost twice what it would be on a standard tariff. But tenants and apartment dwellers, the very people Solar Sharer most intended to support, will not be able to install a home battery.
Solar Sharer, a great idea in principle, has become the Solar Shocker. And it’s all been approved by the energy regulator.
Gavin Gilchrist runs Inner West Community Energy Inc in Sydney.
